BI 2014-15 Arma 3 road map released

MostlyHarmless · May 1, 2014

For those that have the game and for those that are on the fence about getting it and wondering what sort of support you can expect from the developer, Bohemia Interactive just released their 2014-15 road map for Arma 3

BI said:

Thursday, 01 May 2014 14:02

Earlier this year, we shared our general goals for Arma 3's post-release roadmap. In short, we set out our intention to support the game, to refine content and features, and to invest in the platform. Since then, the team has been hard at work!

Over the last few months, we've completed the singleplayer campaign and launched Zeus, our free multiplayer DLC. Besides that, we've provided a whole range of other important updates, addressing issues in the Feedback Tracker, making modest tweaks and additions to the sandbox, and offering up some significant new gameplay and refinements.

Meanwhile, we've had the chance to sketch out our medium and longer-term objectives. Now we're ready to share some selected details. Our roadmap can be divided into three parts: 'platform updates', 'downloadable content', and 'expansion plans'. For now - given that the goal of this blog is to introduce a number of new developments - we'll provide a fairly high-level overview and flag up opportunities to dig down into more detail in future!

Platform Updates
Available to everyone who owns Arma 3, platform updates are significant additions and improvements to the base game. As we announced earlier this year, a key goal is to extend Workshop support for addons. Essentially, this means handling the discovery, installation and maintenance of all kinds of mods - vehicles, mechanics, total conversions, etc. - akin to the way custom scenarios are currently accessed via Steam. In conjunction with some Make Arma Not War contest milestones, we aim to start rolling out its core functionality towards the end of May. Alongside this, we'll publish a more technical overview of the feature, too.

Closely related to this development, we've also been working on a Game Launcher. Alongside useful basic functionality - such as command-line parameters - the Game Launcher organises, maintains and loads mods. Like the Addon Workshop, our initial release is just a starting point. Given that we're designing with custom game launchers in mind (ours is a separate executable) we hope to cooperate closely with the community. In the months following its release, we aim to improve and expand upon it, targeting an ideal balance between usability and advanced functionality. Taken together, we believe that these new features will help unlock the true potential of mods to a wider audience and provide new options to pre-existing community solutions.

Another important addition will be the release of the free 'Bootcamp' update. A tutorial-oriented package wrapped around new playable content and refined sandbox mechanics, Bootcamp’s main objective is to provide newbies with a varied introduction to the game. The Arma 3 player base is still growing and, with this content, we're looking to invest in the platform for the long term. Aside from encouraging new players to learn about the game, we also hope to offer something for existing players, too. Plus, as a side benefit, it gives our teams a focal point to finalise fixes and refinements of certain vanilla features, such as planned improvements to Fatigue and Weapon Sway. We'll present the full package closer to its release.

Downloadable Content
Alongside helping to fund ongoing development, downloadable content (DLC) gives us an opportunity to strengthen our vision of Arma 3 as a game and sandbox platform. The goal of each DLC is to explore a specific topic, developing a focused set of new sandbox assets, official scenarios, and supporting features. Taken together, this work forms part of our wider post-release development plan. We've set out to provide great new gameplay opportunities in the short term, and build a consistent set of features and content with our longer term goals in mind.

Before taking a look at the specifics, it's worth noting that new engine features created to support our DLCs are not 'locked' to those products. Rather, these improvements contribute to Arma 3 as a whole; they're available automatically to everyone who owns the game. In short, features are free, content is paid, and our objective is to prevent any split in the MP player-base. Again, for the purposes of clarity and brevity, further details on our DLC strategy will be offered in the next few weeks.

Arma 3 Helicopters
Together with the addition of distinctive new transport helicopters and a selective implementation of Take On Helicopter’s RotorLib Flight Dynamics Model (FDM), the basic goal of this DLC is to add appropriate depth and breadth to helicopter gameplay. Worthwhile mentioning, too, is that it's designed to be optional, open to game and server configuration. It's also important to note that all existing 'vanilla' helos will be upgraded to the new standard; again, this is free for everyone and the TKOH flight dynamics are completely optional. Helicopters aside, though, another key objective is to offer benefits for more players than pilots alone.

To achieve this goal, we've sought to create new mechanics that enhance the combined arms experience and improve the A3 platform more broadly. Although at an early stage of development, we're looking specifically at the logistical role of helicopters on the battlefield (via Sling Loading) and thinking about gameplay for soldiers in transit (via Firing from Vehicles). Both features are engine-based and MP-compatible, with Sling Loading available to all existing and new helicopters. Furthermore, although we're focusing upon helos as a starting point, Firing from Vehicles stands to benefit other sandbox assets; any specifically configured cargo positions offer potential gameplay for units (both players and AI) in transit. Due to release in the second half of 2014, we'll present the full key features at a later date.

Arma 3 Marksmen
A focused overhaul of shooting mechanics together with new weapons, the central goal of this development is to make firing a weapon simple to do but challenging to master. Due after the Helicopters DLC, we don't want to be too specific just yet; however, to achieve our goal, a set of interrelated features are planned, which aim to further improve the authenticity of firing weapons and offer new gameplay opportunities.

In terms of content, new weapons that take most advantage of these planned features will be included; chiefly, this will involve ranged and high calibre weapons. We're selecting armaments that offer genuine diversity; not just many of the same type of weapon with minor visual differences, but a true range that offers distinctive gameplay alongside some inherent advantages/disadvantages. Again, our objective is to improve the A3 platform more broadly; new features and mechanics are designed with existing assets in mind, enhancing the sandbox as a whole.
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MostlyHarmless · May 1, 2014

Part 2

BI said:

Expansion Plan
Pencilled in for late 2015 (and with a lot of work ahead of us!) we're not quite ready to reveal too many precise details about the Arma 3 Expansion. We're at a stage of development where we want to take some risks, experiment, and innovate! With that in mind, the exact scope of our work will, for now, stay dark and will remain so until we're a bit more confident about what we can truly deliver. However, we do think it's worthwhile mentioning that work on a more significant package of new sandbox content and features is under way; clearly, this parallel development frames the rest of our plans.

So far, we've selected a new terrain that offers a distinctive feeling and gameplay. Building on our experience with Zeus, we're exploring ways to develop a more 'fully featured' 3D scenario editor. We're looking carefully at making investments in civilian life and diversity. Furthermore, unlike Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead, the expansion is not intended to be standalone. Rather, learning lessons from past experiences, the expansion is a true extension of the Arma 3 base. We want to build one big platform of content and features, simplifying development for ourselves and making life easier for our players!

However, while it's great to have one eye on the future, we'd also like to stress that our original (and ongoing) goals haven't changed. It (almost) goes without saying that our work on stability and optimisation remains central to Arma 3's longevity. Working closely with community groups to test large-scale MP performancecontinues, as does our cooperation with the DayZ team and their knowledge of MP optimisation techniques. That aside, our own official multiplayer servers provide a wealth of useful data, which feeds back into development.

Overall, we're excited about Arma 3's 2014/15 roadmap and the great new content, gameplay and refinements it offers. Although things can change, we've tried to reveal the parts we're most sure about and, of course, there's more in the works! Often overlapping with our own wishes and desires, we're investigating a range of features based on public feedback, which we're trying to prioritise appropriately. Alongside our goal to keep the A3 platform stable, we've got to take time and resource limitations into consideration; however, where we can implement innovative and valuable ideas, we will!

Above, we've identified several areas that we'd like to expand upon in future. Short term, that means sharing details about Steam Workshop support and our Game Launcher, introducing our strategy to keep the player-base contiguous, and presenting the key features of the free Bootcamp Update. Longer term, we'll go into more depth about the DLCs themselves and sketch out our intentions for the expansion. Until then, we'd like to thank our players for supporting Arma 3, and wish you all the best on the battlefield!

On behalf of the A3 team,

- Jay and Joris
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gihzmo · May 1, 2014

Call me elitist, but I think the bootcamp is a waste of resources. Everything else looks AMAZING though.

I think the game is not that difficult to learn, especially if you have people playing with you. If you are playing the game solo I could see this.. but then again, if you are playing Arma solo.. you are doing it wrong.

MostlyHarmless · May 1, 2014

Totally agree with you there, when I first started in arma 2 it was overwhelming having come from a battlefield background. With playing with you all for a couple of days I feel extremely comfortable now with the game. Infact it was more comfortable and faster learning in multiplayer on missions than trying to do the single player scenarios where there wasn't anyway to get feedback from others for what I was doing right or wrong or quick tips like how to line up the sights on a rpg for different ranges.

The portion on helicopters has me really excited!! I know others might not be as excited about the increased realism in the flight model but the way they are making it optional and being sure not to split the playerbase has me very impressed. Take on Helicopters might just have to be purchased to get me ready for the flight model.

Derak Darksun · May 1, 2014

I hope in the shooting overhaul they introduce wind speed/direction like in Project Reality from ArmA2!

MostlyHarmless · May 30, 2014

Thursday, 29 May 2014 16:00

A few weeks ago we shared the first details on our roadmap for Arma 3,outlining what we're working on for the years 2014 and 2015. We discussed further support, such as the free Bootcamp Update, revealed two premium DownLoadable Content (DLC) packages, and provided a first glance at a future Expansion.

Today, we'd like to follow-up on that and explain how this new content fits into the Arma 3 platform, mainly with regards to preventing a split in our playerbase. To frame our plans, let's take a look at the way DLC is typically handled in games, the way we did it for Arma 2, and our motivations for changing this up in Arma 3.

The Playerbase: Bridging The Divide
Game content sold after the initial release often fractures the player-base: those who own the content and those who don't. Many games take this for granted. Most noticeable in the multiplayer environment, this split prevents players who don't own DLC from joining and playing with friends who do own it. In many modern games, if you don't own, for example, a vehicle pack, you cannot join servers that use those vehicles.

This is perhaps the most straight-forward illustration of what we'd like to avoid in Arma 3. We've made a point of positioning the game as a platform - one that keeps evolving, growing and maturing over time. Anything that splits the playerbase goes against that philosophy, so we're eager to prevent this from happening where we can.

The Past: Arma 2 & Lite
If you've played Arma 2, you may know that we already provided a solution to avoid this type of split. In the form of so-called 'lite' data, we released downloadable content to everyone who owned the game, regardless of whether people purchased it. In this lite data, the fidelity of the artwork, audio and animations was lowered via compression techniques. To give an example, a lite tank would have low quality textures and compressed sound effects for those people who did not own the DLC. We like to think the theory behind this was actually pretty cool; it achieved its goal of avoiding the split. In the end, everybody was able to connect to any MP game, even when it used DLC.

However, for players and developers alike, this approach wasn't always ideal. For our players, it could quite drastically affect their perception of quality. For example, if a player was unaware of our 'lite' approach, they'd play a game with high-quality content mixed in with low-quality content - thinking this was either a bug or poor production values on our part. There was no real sense of what was and what wasn't DLC.

The Future: Arma 3 & Premium Content
So, how to prevent an inconsistent mix of high and low quality content? Simple: give everyone all content at its highest quality for free. However, we also have to acknowledge the realities of running a business and the costs of quality development. Simply put: we need to sell new products so that we can continue to grow, improve our teams, and further invest in Arma 3's development.

For Arma 3, we've been looking at other ways of achieving the same goal, while making it more obvious to players when they are using DLC - or as we also refer to it: premium content. We've been experimenting with variousreasonable restrictions for unowned content. This means making all premium content available to everyone, but applying certain limitations and notifications for those who haven't purchased it. Since that may sound rather vague on paper - and because we're interested in gathering your reactions as you uncover them - we don't want to detail each specific restriction just yet. Instead, we'd like to provide a concrete example of how it all works. We'll go into further details below.

The Details: DLC Strategy
To explain the system a bit more thoroughly, while you'll be able to use premium content everywhere - in singleplayer, the editor and multiplayer - if you haven't yet purchased it, notifications will be shown. These become more prominent the longer you use an unowned asset - and only when you're using it - we have no intention to present 'ads' to you when you are not actively playing with unowned content.

Should you like an asset, let's say a new helicopter, you can then buy the DLC package it belongs to, for example the Arma 3 Helicopter DLC. The cool thing about that is, with the help of Steam, you can now purchase a package without leaving the game (you can still, however, also purchase the DLC directly from Steam and out-of-game). Note that you will not be buying individual assets, like a single weapon / vehicle / scenario, but rather the whole package.

The Benefits To Players
Let's take a look at what we consider to be the main benefits of our new approach for players.

NO SPLIT:

You're not confronted with the DLC multiplayer content divide.

You can connect to any server running official content, no matter whether you own DLC.

CONTENT & FEATURE SEPARATION:

We intend to provide all technologies and gameplay features to everyone; as we said in our previous blog: "features are free, premium content is paid".

For example, introducing the ability to fire from vehicles in Arma 3 Helicopters, we open this functionality up to everybody who owns Arma 3. New DLC helicopters and playable content will then build upon it and showcase it.

DISCOVERY & INSTALLATION:

The process of getting new official content should be much smoother. Purchase inside or outside the game and that's it.

Since you already have all data downloaded, no further installation or configuration is necessary; you don't need to worry about what patch to install for your version.

TRY-BEFORE-YOU-BUY:

There are many ways of trialing content, but experiencing a good cooperative scenario is right up there. Imagine the example helicopter from before. Your friend owns it already, and he can fly you around and let you inspect its strengths!

You only need buy the packages you really like and use a lot. Of course, we'll try to make all DLC worthy additions to the platform, but you are not blindly buying into DLC and the choice is yours!

The Benefits To Development
This approach also offers serious benefits to us as a developer. Anything that streamlines the development process will, ultimately, benefit our players, too!

ONE SET OF DATA:

As mentioned above, when we update the game, we don't have to maintain countless versions of the game with and without certain DLC.

QUALITY CONTROL:

The same applies to Quality Assurance and testing. Instead of needing to test every single combination of ownership, we can focus all efforts on a single configuration.

That increases the overall level of quality our relatively small team can deliver.

LONG-TERM PLANS:

By not locking features to DLC, we can be sure that players will have access to it in future.

Let's say we would like to add a scenario in the Expansion about Sling Loading. If this was - and it's not - locked to Arma 3 Helicopters DLC, we couldn't reliably use it.

Platform, platform, platform - you'll see by now it's all coming back to that keyword.

MostlyHarmless · May 30, 2014

The Walkthrough: Owned & Unowned DLC
Time to explore an example. Say, we will include a new helicopter and showcase scenario as part of the paid Arma 3 Helicopters DLC. When it releases on Steam, afree game update to Arma 3 is released at the same time - containing all data belonging to the Helicopters DLC (including all premium content) - for everyone.

At this point, the DLC can be purchased via our own Store, through Steam, or directly from in game. Depending upon if you've purchased it or not, you'll encounter differences right from the main menu. To explain further, let's take a look at two cases:

The Owners

You launch the game and see an icon at the bottom the main menu, indicating that the Helicopters DLC is installed and owned.

Clicking on the icon will open the Field Manual to the Helicopters DLC records.

The helicopter is available as you would expect in the editor, along with the official scenarios, and multiplayer - have fun!

The Non-Owners

You launch the game and see an icon in the top left of the main menu, indicating that the Helicopters DLC is available.

You could purchase the DLC right there and then, but choose to continue to play on as normal.

The helicopter is available to try out in the editor, but the SP scenario is locked.

You can use the helicopter with some restrictions (e.g. you can only board the helicopter as a passenger).

The longer you actively use it, the more prominent the premium content notifications become.

Afterwards, you join a multiplayer server that uses the MP scenario (or any custom mission including the helicopter):

You can join as normal.

Again, you experience the progressive DLC notifications and restrictions.

Since you've really enjoyed the helicopter so far(!), you decide to buy it in-game directly.

The limitations and notifications are immediately removed.

We display a confirmation note - thank you!

The Test Drive: Arma 3 Karts
On April 1 2014 we released a parody video to which the response was very positive! At the same time, we were looking for a good way of trialing our new DLC strategy: offering premium content to test and validate our new approach.

Even though we believe in our new approach to DLC, we realize that it's somewhat experimental, and may yet not work out. We'd like to see how players respond to it, whether they see the benefits, and whether it actually works. Rather than doing this via the first 'big' DLC - namely, Arma 3 Helicopters - Arma 3 Karts was born.

The Content

VEHICLE:

The go-kart seen in the video was a hobby project made by senior artist Martin Valášek in his free time.

CHARACTER:

A racing driver, wearing a new helmet, and overalls that match the various liveries available for the kart.

WEAPON:

A racetrack marshal uses a starter pistol (a rather extreme kind that fires signal flares).

PLAYABLE CONTENT:

Playable content exists as a new type of singleplayer Challenge: Time Trials, which includes 5 simple races against the clock.

For multiplayer, there are 3 new modules that enable Zeus to set up a Check Point race, along with 2 pre-set races using those modules.

The Pricing & Bundle
We've arrived at the following prices for the Arma 3 premium content packages:

EURUSDGBPRUBBRL
Arma 3 Bootcamp UpdateFreeFreeFreeFreeFree
Arma 3 Karts DLC1.491.991.19694.49
Arma 3 Helicopters DLC12.9915.9910.9959939.99
Arma 3 Marksmen DLC12.9915.9910.9959939.99
Arma 3 DLC Bundle19.9924.9916.9989959.99
Arma 3 ExpansionTBATBATBATBATBA
* The DLC Bundle is the best value for Arma 3 fans who want to get the most out of the platform. It contains the 3 DLC packages: Karts, Helicopters and Marksmen. The bundle does not include the Expansion.

Those who supported our development by purchasing the limited Arma 3 Supporter Edition will be getting everything above without surcharge,including the Expansion

The Starting Line: Go, Go, Go!

The Karts DLC is available right now! Update the Arma 3 main game to version 1.20 and find various in-game options to purchase it (or buy directly from our store). Since we consider the Karts DLC to be more of a fun little side-step - and also as a way to trial our DLC business model - a portion of the proceeds from the sales of the Arma 3 Karts DLC will be donated to the Czech Red Cross. The total amount raised will be announced on www.bistudio.com in June 2014.

Overall, we've tried to devise an approach to DLC that's most beneficial to our players, providing quality content without dividing the playerbase, while still funding our future development. It will be interesting to see what you think of it. Please give it a go in-game. Based on your feedback, there will be a round of tweaking followed by an evaluation of the whole strategy. If it works out, we'll continue to iterate and improve it. If it doesn't, we'll have to look for other solutions. Either way, for now, have funracing karts around Altis!

On behalf of the Arma 3 team,

Joris & Jay